Nation’s best expected at U.S. Senior & FILA Junior World Team Trials in Madison, Wis., May 30-June 1

World and Olympic champion Jordan Burroughs celebrates after his win at the 2014 U.S. Open. Photo by Tony Rotundo, Wrestlers Are Warriors.

The nation’s top Olympic wrestlers in men’s and women’s freestyle will compete at the U.S. World Team Trials, set for the Alliant Energy Center in Madison, Wis., May 31- June 1.

In addition, on Friday, May 30, the FILA Junior World Team Trials for men in both freestyle and Greco-Roman will also be held in Madison, Wis. at the Coliseum at the Alliant Energy Center. This includes the nation’s best 17-20 year old men wrestlers, including many college stars and high school talents.

Fans will have the unique opportunity to see the wrestlers who will be battling for spots on the 2016 U.S. Olympic Team, along with young wrestlers in the FILA Junior event who may be challenging for a spot in the 2020 or 2024 Olympic Games.

Wrestling, which survived a threat to its position on the Olympic program in 2013, has been going through a renaissance, with considerable participation growth, excitement and attention on the sport ever since.

The U.S. World Team Trials will feature many past Olympic and World medalists. Three of the athletes who won wrestling medals at the 2012 Olympics in London, England are in the field, including Olympic champions Jordan Burroughs and Jake Varner in men’s freestyle and Olympic bronze medalist Clarissa Chun in women’s freestyle. In addition 2008 Olympic medalist Randi Miller will be in the women’s draw.

Numerous World medalists are also expected in Madison, including two-time World champion Jordan Burroughs in men’s freestyle and past World champions Elena Pirozhkova, Adeline Gray and Iris Smith in women’s freestyle. Pirozhkova and Gray have won three career World medals each. Among the past World medalists in the field are two-time World bronze medalist Alyssa Lampe in women’s freestyle and World bronze medalists Jake Varner and Tervel Dlagnev in men’s freestyle.

There will be a number of athletes with a Wisconsin connection in the U.S. World Team Trials, including Lampe, who was a state runner-up for Tomahawk High School competing against boys. Current Univ. of Wisconsin wrestler Connor Medbury will compete, as will former Wisconsin NCAA champion Andrew Howe. Alex Dieringer of Port Washington, a 2014 NCAA champion for Oklahoma State, has also qualified to compete.

The tournament will feature the six Olympic weight classes in men’s freestyle wrestling and six in women’s freestyle wrestling.

The champions from the 2014 Senior Open Championships in Las Vegas, Nev. will advance directly to the best-of-three Finals Trials, held each evening at 6:00 p.m. In the morning session, which begins at 10:00 a.m., the rest of the field will compete in the Trials Tournament, which will determine the opponent who will face the national champion in the finals.

Winners at the U.S. World Team Trials will earn a spot on the U.S. teams that will compete at the 2014 World Championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Sept. 8-14.

The FILA Junior World Team Trials will include all weight classes competing on Friday, May 30. Among the expected competitors are 2013 Junior World champion Kyle Snyder and 2013 Cadet World champion Aaron Pico. Among the FILA Junior national champions who advance directly to the finals series is University of Wisconsin wrestler Ricky Robertson. Two other Badger wrestlers will compete, Andrew Crone and Gabriel Grahek.

During the weekend, there will be a special reunion of the 1979 U.S. Freestyle World Team, which won seven medals and placed second in the World Championships. Five members of that team have a connection to the state of Wisconsin: Jim Haines, Lee Kemp, Laurent Soucie, Russ Hellickson and John Peterson.

Tickets are still available for all three days through Ticketmaster at ticketmaster.com.

The event will be broadcast on national television on Universal Sports Network on a tape-delayed basis. The event will also be webcast live by Flowrestling, as part of its Flo Pro platform.